The Arrow Saga: The Tale of the Farm Girl
by t.j.guard
Summary: In Oz, Dorothy is engaged in a power struggle against the land's most powerful magic users. In Storybrooke, Bae chances upon an unexpected object while the quest for a way out of the trapped town continues.
1. Messages

The Arrow Saga: The Tale of the Farm Girl

Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time.

Messages

Bae tore Robin Hood's quiver apart as best he could, and he threw the remains into the stream. The extra arrows were used to hide the knife he'd found when he returned to the roadside, the knife which was now the source of a serious quandary he had. Why on earth would Rumpelstiltskin discard the knife that was the source of his power? Sure, it seemed like he was trying to change, but that still didn't warrant such an action. As long as Rumpelstiltskin was the Dark One, which was essentially as long as he was alive, the knife had power over him and was the only threat to his person in existence.

As long as the knife was intact, there still was a Dark One, and Rumpelstiltskin had a deep attachment to his power, so it seemed foolish to leave the one object that was his security lying around where anyone could pick it up, if that wasn't what he did already. A complete stranger had, after all, found it and used it to make an attempt on Bae's life.

Rumpelstiltskin had said that part of his curse was to know everything, so it wasn't beyond reason to figure that he'd known Bae would be the one to retrieve the knife, and Bae knew well that he was the only one his father trusted with the knife's secrets. That was enough to compel him to keep this find a secret, as well. If Rumpelstiltskin left the knife for him to find, that meant he trusted him and was ready to transfer control.

Bae slipped the knife back into its hiding place.

OUAT

Dorothy staggered down the Wizard's hallway to his chamber with his massive green floating head, and he threw the broomstick at the base of the platform over which the Wizard's head floated. "There," she said. "I did what you asked. They helped me. Now you have to keep to your end of the deal."

"Which was what, exactly?" the Wizard asked.

"You give the Scarecrow a brain, the Cowardly Lion some courage, and the Tin Man a heart. And you take me home to Kansas."

"Silence!"

"No, you shut up," Dorothy shot back. She was through being a kindly person even to her enemies. She was through accommodating people who stepped all over her. She was going to make someone listen to her if it was the last thing she ever did. "You do what you promised us you'd do or I'll call for Toto."

"His name's not Toto."

"Yes it is. You just don't care enough to listen to him. That's why you keep him locked up and starving all day. You just don't care."

"If I keep him locked up and starving all day, then where is he now?"

D called over her shoulder, "Toto," and out of a vortex that formed in thin air bounded a giant, haggard dog with patchy fur, foaming at the mouth and snarling at nearly everything he saw. "Get him, boy." Toto leaped not for the Wizard's floating head, but for a ring-style curtain in a dimly lit corner. D turned away from the carnage but listened with a smile on her face. She resolved that she wouldn't be stepped on ever again, and she'd fight everyone who fought her just as fiercely. She had a hellhound's undivided loyalty, she had a team at her back, and she had a quest: she was getting out of Oz, and along the way, she was liberating it from its rulers.

Toto finished, and D checked 'Wizard' off her list. He padded up to her side, and she scratched his ears. "Good boy," she said. She led him out to the hall where the Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man waited.

"N-n-n-now what?" the Lion asked.

"Now we go north," D said. "We have someone to find, and we're going to send her a very powerful message."


	2. A Storm is Coming

A Storm is Coming

"Good morning, Miss Gale," Victor said when he walked into D's room to check on her.

"Mornin', doc," D replied. "Looks like the Fates let you sleep last night." He laughed and nodded as he turned to examine the monitors. "Any news from the outside world."

He turned to her. "That depends on what constitutes news in your mind."

"Anything on the Barrier situation?"

"Well, that I don't know, but I don't necessarily concern myself with...magical affairs." She nodded. "Besides, it's only been twelve hours. I don't think much has changed, except that your condition is much improved."

"Sleep does a body good, except when it's in a poppy field in Oz." He raised an eyebrow. "Trust me. It's awful."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Great. Now you know a little bit of how to stay alive in the Land of Oz. Anything else I can tell you?"

"I don't think I'll be going to the Land of Oz in the future, but thank you."

"No problem."

"Well, we'll keep you here another day for observation. Be sure not to do too much, and be careful about that leg of yours."

"Sure thing, doc."

"After you're released, though, don't go charging into dangerous situations. Take it easy for a week or so."

"I'll try, but no promises." Victor nodded and walked out of D's room.

OUAT

"There you are, lad," John said boisterously as Bae walked back into their camp. "We were afraid we'd have to send someone to go looking for you."

"It was going to be me," Morraine added with a smile and a slight tilt of her head. She then stood and walked over to him. "What is it?" she asked in a low voice. "Has something happened?"

Bae licked his lip and took Morraine's hands. "Yes," he said after a moment. "Something's happened, something much more than we realized or feared. Something truly awful." He leaned forward. "It was my father's knife."

"The...one that she threw at your head?" Bae nodded. "Why did he just leave it, then?"

"I think because he knew I'd come back for it. He trusts me with it and its secrets."

"And yet somehow that crazy woman managed to steal it."

"He arranged the whole thing," Bae whispered. "He wanted me to find and take the knife. It's a surrender of control."

"Well...why?"

"There's some kind of endgame here. I just don't know what it is."

"It could be freeing the town."

"If he wanted to do that, he could've done it himself."

"Keeping the knife safe, then. You did say he trusts you with it."

"So he senses a storm coming."

"I think we all do."

OUAT

August paced back and forth across his room at the Bed and Breakfast. Peter sat cross-legged on the bed, staring at him and watching his every move. Finally the boy asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm trying to figure out a safe way out of here," August replied. "The trods are unsafe, Jefferson has no hat...If there's another way like D says there is, then it's also true that somebody could still die." He stopped and looked at Peter. "How'd you do it?" he asked. "How'd you open the tunnel that got you here?"

"You think I can do it?"

"It worked once, didn't it?"

"I...I used water."

August smiled. "Just so happens I know where to get some."


	3. Attack and Defend

Attack and Defend

Gerhardt tore off the sack covering Greg's head and growled into his ear, "You didn't do what I said. You didn't call her off."

"She can't be stopped," Greg said, his panic mounting by the second.

"You could have at least made the attempt."

"I'll do anything you want, just please. Don't kill me. Don't kill me."

Gerhardt squeezed Greg's arm sharply, silencing him. "Don't get me wrong. I did doubt your ability to make good on your oath. For that reason alone, you get a second chance."

"So why drag me all the way out to the middle of the woods?"

"To scare you some more, make sure you're paying the utmost attention."

"Oh, I'm listening."

"Good. Here's what you're going to do. You're going to take your wife, and you're going to convince her, by whatever means necessary, to leave town with you. We have enough problems here without you adding to them, though I have to thank you for bringing them to our attention. Just do us this one favor, get out of town so we can focus on other things."

"We're not just here to prove magic. I mean, I am, but I just got enough proof to last me the rest of my life. She...she wants something else. Wonderland made her crazy. The Queen made her crazy. She wants to take the Queen's enemies across the line and destroy them. She says it's the only way. The Queen herself offered to regain her daughter's trust so the mission could be accomplished. At least, that's what Alice told me."

"Hmm. On second thought, I may have a use for you." Gerhardt turned Greg around and sat him down with a forceful shove. "From now on, you take your orders from me. Understood?" Greg nodded. "You and your wife will stay here, but you will inform me daily of her movements, her plans, her thoughts and actions, dreams, desires, wishes, all of it. I want to know everything that passes through her mind, no matter how crazy. If she starts to act on what you accuse her of planning, I want to be the first to know." Greg nodded again. "One more thing. This is your first, last, and only second chance, and there won't be a third one. You fail here, I will act on my threat, and what's more, I'll make sure no one ever finds your body. Am I clear?"

Greg nodded a third time and choked out a "Y-yes."

"Excellent. Tell anyone about this encounter, and you won't survive a third one."

"Got it."

"Good. Now that that's established, go back into town and make like nothing ever happened except you were dragged into the woods by a random stranger. Go." Greg shot to his feet and bolted toward Storybrooke as if he were a bullet from a gun.

A twig snapped behind Gerhardt, and he turned at once to find himself face to face with Baelfire. "What're you doing out here?" Bae asked.

"I just turned someone over to our cause," Gerhardt replied. "What are you doing out here?"

"Well, I was about to go hunting, and then I heard his confession and your rather explicit instructions and I decided I'd stop and listen."

"So A, you heard plenty, and B, you snapped a twig on purpose."

"Exactly. For a second there I thought you were going to kill him."

"I was about to."

"Then he proved himself useful and you spared him."

"Yes."

"Well, I appreciate your extreme honesty."

"Thank you. I'll let you get back to hunting. A man has to put food on the table, you know."

"Yes, I do know." Something flashed in Bae's eyes; Gerhardt recognized a painful reminder, dropped the subject, nodded to the boy, and walked back toward Storybrooke without waiting to see if he, too, left the clearing. He made a mental note to ask about the magic knife Bae was keeping in his quiver.

OUAT

Victor slumped into his chair and looked up. Red was sitting in the chair she'd adopted as her own, with a cup of coffee in each hand. Wordlessly, she handed one of the cups to him. "Thank you," he said, and he took a huge gulp.

"Long day?" Red asked.

"You have no idea."

"Four curses, two car accidents, three beatings, one of which was with a stolen pick-axe. Oh, and Greg got kidnapped by your brother."

"Wolf ears," he said, shaking his head.

"I'm a wolf all over."

"Except when you're the most attractive woman in town." Their eyes met in shocked silence. "Crap, did I just say that out loud?"

"Yeah, yah did."

"That's...that's not to say it isn't true or anything. Don't get me wrong." He took a sip of coffee to spare himself further embarrassing remarks. "It just seemed like a natural thing to say, is all." Well, that was better. She took a sip of her coffee and looked up at him through her eyelashes like a shy, or more likely coy, schoolgirl.

She leaned on the armrests of the chair, choosing one side over the other, and asked, "Most attractive woman in town, huh?"

"Absolutely. Dr. Whale was lustful beyond all reason, but he did have the right idea." He finished with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, but this time, after he sipped his coffee, he set it on the desk in front of him. He was now watching Red directly.

"I thought you said it went beyond reason," she said with a small smile.

"Not all ideas are based in logic. Sometimes they're the greatest things a mind can conceive, but most times they breed folly."

"And you think-"

"No, of course not."

"So starting a relationship with the girl with the shitty-ass track record is a good idea? Sorry, doc, but I think you need to have your head checked." She couldn't help but laugh by the end of her little speech, and Victor smiled in response.

"I'll refer myself to Dr. Hopper, then."

Now they both laughed, but their moment was short-lived. A nurse poked her head in the door and said, "Dr. Whale, there's been another attempt on the shooting victim."

"Not again," Victor groaned. He sucked down the rest of the coffee, and Red handed the second cup to him. He gave a grateful nod and started chugging as he walked out the door.

He finished the life-sustaining, sleep-replacing beverage somewhere between his office and Hook's room and tossed it into the nearest receptacle. He walked into the captain's room to find Rumpelstiltskin standing over him with a gun in his hand. "I thought I told you to get lost," he said. "This is a hospital, not a killing field."

Rumpelstiltskin lowered the gun, faced the doctor, and said amiably, "Hello, Victor."

"You two know each other?" Hook asked from the bed.

"Long story," Victor replied, hardly looking at him. His sole focus was on Rumpelstiltskin, the man who introduced him to magic and was now about to ruin one of his life's great works, sustaining it. "At exactly eight-o-clock tomorrow, I will go to the DA, and I will file a restraining order against you on behalf of this hospital and this patient. Until then, I can only make the strong suggestion that you get the hell out and never come back."

"Why so hostile all of a sudden?"

"I'm running on coffee and three hours of sleep because of you."

"It's because I brought magic back, isn't it?"

"Magic's the reason we're all in this mess. Or have you forgotten?"

"Oh, I haven't forgotten." Something dark flashed in Rumpelstiltskin's eyes, and Victor knew at once it wasn't evil. He recognized it in his own brother after the killing of their father and the subsequent attack on himself. Rumpelstiltskin nodded and walked out of the room. Victor stared at his back until Hook attracted his attention.

"Well, I suppose I should thank you," the captain said.

"It wasn't personal," Victor replied, staring down at him. "I'm just doing my job."


	4. A Thermos of Water

A Thermos of Water

August parked on the side of the road, dismounted, and left his helmet hanging on the handlebar. He removed a thermos from his saddlebag and walked up to the fountain. Peter needed water to open a portal from anywhere to anywhere, and August counted himself lucky to have known where to find not just any water, but magic water. He lowered the bucket and then stopped.

"The woods are popular today," said a gruff voice from behind him.

August turned to face a black-haired, bearded, graying man in Lincoln Green from the Middle Ages. "Uh, yeah, I'm just running a few errands. Hey, didn't you come with the others?" he replied.

"Yeah." August returned to his occupation. "What sort of errands are we talking about?"

"Well, I happened to take in a boy, and he needs a little water, water that's said to have magical properties."

"You don't say."

"It's said to bring back what has been lost, as well as heal the sick and dying, even the cursed. It's like liquid true love." He dipped the thermos into the bucket and waited for it to stop blubbing. Then he pulled it out and capped it again.

"In all the fairy stories I've ever heard, true love is said to break the spell, or dislodging the implement that caused it, if it remains."

"That's true. True love is the most powerful magic known to, well, any of us." John nodded, and August leaned against the edge of the well. "Why do you say the woods are popular?"

"Oh, Baelfire happened upon Gerhardt and a stranger while out rabbit shooting. Nothing really happened, except Gerhardt apparently said he recruited someone to the cause."

"The cause of getting everyone out of Storybrooke before this entire thing all goes to shit?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"I can get behind that."

"I reckon you are."

"How can you tell?"

"I have it on a reliable source that these people in this town have lost their freedom, just as Nottinghamshire once did, and you said it yourself. That water is said to restore what has been lost."

"How do you know I'm not lying through my teeth and my real objective is to turn back into a real person?"

"A liar would never be so open."

"You don't know that. You're blindly trusting that what I'm telling you is true."

"Exactly."

"You think by blindly trusting me you'll get me to keep my word."

"Actually I know you'll keep it because someone is blindly trusting you." August turned to look over the well and bit his lip. He looked over his shoulder at where the man had stood to find that he was gone.

OUAT

Peter looked up when August returned to the room with a thermos in hand. "What's in there?" he asked.

"Magic water," August replied.

"Do you think that'll work?"

"I got it from the only supply of magic water that I know of."

"It's from Lake Gnostos."

"You better believe it, though why anyone would bring a magic lake to a land without magic is beyond me."

"Maybe so we can go home. I know the way."

"Then Regina must be a genius."

"Not Regina. Rumpelstiltskin."

"You know what? I'm not as surprised as I'm supposed to be." August handed Peter the thermos. "You take care of this, alright, and as soon as we convince everyone there's a safe way out, you be on hand so we can do it, alright?"

"Okay." August nodded and sank into the chair by his desk. Then, he started writing. "What're you working on?"

"Another story. I'm a writer."

"What's it about?"

"It's about D and her misadventures in Oz. I figure I at least owe her this one."

"Why?"

"Because she sent the Grimms' book to Storybrooke ahead for me."

"How'd she get it?"

August stopped his typing and turned to face Peter. "Well, once upon a time, I was staying with her in her farmhouse in Kansas..."

OUAT

August stopped in the kitchen and stared at the book on the table. "Where'd you get that?" he asked.

D turned to look at him. "That's a book of stories."

"The ones from the Enchanted Forest, that actually happened?"

"Yeah. There's a cursed town in Maine that sooner or later you're going to find your way to. This just has to get there first, in case you need help."

"I'm kind of bad at doing what I'm supposed to do."

"Okay," D said, taking a seat at the table. "Let me tell you a story. I was once a young portal jumper, starting out on my own without family or friends. Kansas was destroyed by the tornado, and I was lost, but my experience in Oz taught me a valuable skill. I can open trods, which are tunnels between worlds. Because I could do that, I was introduced to a network of people who were like me. They knew other realms, and they could travel freely between them. Someone I met along the way gave me this book." She gestured to the book on the table. "He said it was from his friends the Grimm Brothers, and he wanted to make sure it got to where it was supposed to go."

"Where was that?"

"A town in need, a boy in need. Even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing."

"I'm a kid. You can't expect me to go save the world."

"Exactly, and that Blue Fairy of yours shouldn't, either. Still, when the need arises, rise to the occasion, anyway. You can do it." August turned and walked away, pale-faced, and D knew she said too much, but at least he knew enough.


	5. The Trouble With Frankenstein

The Trouble With Frankenstein

Jefferson opened the door with a pair of scissors in one hand and then blinked. "What're you doing here?" he asked. "I thought you forgot I existed."

"You didn't want to talk to me," D replied. "Besides, until recently I've been pretty busy. Anyway, I've got a little nugget for you that I've been chewing on for the past several hours while I worked off my restless energy by getting the lay of the land."

"You're not asking me to hat, are you?"

"So you know about the predicament."

"Damn near everyone knows. It's the talk of the town." He stepped aside and gestured for her to enter. She did, and he closed the door behind her. "I don't hat anymore."

"I know. Hat got destroyed and you don't want to leave your daughter." He blinked again. "August told me. You'd be surprised what you can learn when people think you're dead."

"You know I don't do that anymore, so what are you doing here?"

"There's another, who's been risen from the dead with an enchanted heart and his brother's diligent scientific work. He's one of the strongest-by-talent sensitives I've ever met, and he, too, has known other worlds."

"You want me to teach him?"

"Look, it may be our best bet, unless someone finds another way, or if we need several."

"You want me to teach someone how to hat so you can get everyone out of this town?"

"They can't live in this cage forever, especially not when they can be ogled by everybody and their mother coming up from New York and Pennsylvania and all the way from Japan just to go curiosity-searching." She exhaled, words suddenly spent.

"What's the point, when we could all be forced back to our home worlds, anyway?"

"What?"

"You don't know? Okay, look. Cora and her new best friend Hook kidnapped a giant and made him human-size so he could be taken aboard the ship. He knows about magic beans."

"There are only six left, in the hands of Alec, in that pouch he keeps around his neck."

"And where did he get those? Scavenging from the party of Jack the Giantslayer, of course."

"Doesn't matter. He's all the way in the Enchanted Forest, in the haven."

"And if she got to him, too?"

"She'd be banking on the giant knowing."

"The trouble isn't the giant. The trouble is the beans. They can force you anywhere, even your homeland. Even when there's nothing left for you to go back to. I heard they can even force you back to the time when you were cursed, and then everything goes back to the way it was, good and bad."

"You know what, Jefferson? The beans are in the Enchanted Forest, around the neck of a village boy who doesn't know or much care what they're for."

"You're sure of this?"

D sighed and gave a slight roll of the eyes. "Fine." She held out her hand and called on the magic around her. "Find me magic beans," she said, and out of the mist, the image of a boy with a pouch around his neck formed. "See?"

"Where is he?" At Jefferson's command, the image expanded to the entire village going about its daily existence, and then finally to a picture of an area just inland of a shore, dotted at the extremities by ruins of palaces and villages and castles claimed by the destructive storm of the curse. "Okay," he said, finally satisfied. D lowered her hand, and the magic dispersed.

"So our options are hatting, trods, and breaking the Barrier outright. Unless somebody comes up with something."

"And is that thing still in the trods?"

"Yes. Tried to break out between here and the Land Without Color, but I think we made it before she could."

"You think?"

"The earth shook, remember?"

"Too well."

"Rumpelstiltskin says he knows a way to break the Barrier, but it means he could die."

"Cowardly bastard."

"I hate his guts for his being such an idiot, but even I don't want him to die."

"He has a lot of enemies."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Still, you want to hat us all out of here."

"Name me a better option." Jefferson paused. "Exactly."

"So we are officially devoid of other appealing options. Tell me who you want me to teach how to hat."

OUAT

Gerhardt checked the kitchen clock yet again. It had been exactly sixteen hours, forty minutes, and twelve seconds since he last heard from his brother, and the worry was eating him alive. He shrugged on a jacket and slipped on a pair of sunglasses, and within seconds he was out the door and on his way to Storybrooke General Hospital.

As soon as he stepped through the doors, he was bombarded with the feeling of the effects of many curses all at once. He staggered a step, recovered quickly, and followed his sensitivity to the one like himself, the one from a land without magic. His brother, who was sitting in his office and doing paperwork. "Long day?" Gerhardt asked. Victor jumped and looked up. Then he nodded and returned to his work. "You didn't come home. I was getting worried."

"I had to stay here. Even without everything tied to the accident, there's just too much to do."

"You need sleep."

He sighed and looked up. "Gerhardt, I need a lot of things."

"There's no other doctor, is there?"

"No."

"The nurses?"

"Are just nurses, and most of them got their credentials from the curse. There are a few midwives, and that skill comes in handy on occasion, but being able to birth a baby doesn't help someone who's cursed into infertility in the first place." He sighed again. "Magic just causes trouble, and I know for a fact exactly who brought it here."

"The imp. Rumpelstiltskin."

"That would be him, and he is an imp. Just a crippled troublemaker who uses magic to get everything he wants because he can."

"It can't really be as bad as all that."

"Some days I wish the curse had never been broken."

"Strong thing to say."

"It's true. I'm exhausted, I'm on my feet constantly, the accident just made it worse. I'm running on coffee and so little sleep I can't see it through a microscope. Excuse me."

"I didn't know it was the custom in this land to yell at a person who tried to help you."

"Gerhardt, I'm sorry."

"Come home with me and get some sleep. Tell everyone you don't want to be disturbed unless it's an emergency."

Victor nodded. "'Kay." He stood and followed Gerhardt out of the office, left his instructions, hung up his coat, and clocked out.

They'd just reached the sidewalk when Jefferson walked up to them, took one look at Gerhardt, and said, "Come with me."

"What's this about?" Gerhardt asked.

"There's something we need you to do. It's about getting out of town."

"Go ahead without me. I'll meet up with you as soon as possible," Gerhardt said to Victor, who nodded and kept walking. "What do you want?" he demanded of Jefferson.

"D sent me."

"What does she want?"

"She wants you to learn how to hat so all of Storybrooke's hopes hinge on you. No pressure." Gerhardt narrowed his eyes. "You wanna stay here with him, that's fine. I won't ask questions."

"That's my brother."

"What did you think I meant?"

"You said you wouldn't ask questions."

"That's a logical one, isn't it?"

"Shut up."

"Do you want to learn to hat or not?"

"Send D and have her talk to me. Right now, I want to make sure my brother actually gets his rest." Gerhardt walked down the sidewalk in the direction Victor had gone.


	6. The Trouble With Travel

The Trouble With Travel

"You're goin' north, aren't you," a tree said as D, the Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man passed.

"Yeah," D replied.

"Bet you've got business up there."

"Urgent business."

"You step on the wrong side of the witch, you'll find she's not so good after all."

"So you know about her. You know the truth."

"I am an old tree. I've seen great changes in this land, some for the better but many for the much, much worse. Listen to me, if you want to get her, you'll need help. I'm friends with the commander of the Flying Monkeys. I'll tell him where to meet up with you."

"So we're not just a four-man band up against the world."

"No."

"Thank you."

The tree nodded, and D returned to the path. She stopped and turned back to him. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Argus."

"D."

"I know who you are. Word travels fast amongst us trees."

"Well, Argus, you send me the men, or monkeys, and we'll get her." Argus nodded, his leaves rustling, and D turned back to the path.

OUAT

D took a deep breath and knocked on the door, and she settled onto her crutches and waited for an answer. Gerhardt opened the door. "My brother's asleep."

"You asked for me?" D replied. He stepped aside and gestured for her to enter. She faced him in the hallway. "I'm glad you're supporting your brother, especially since he could use it in a tough time like this." Gerhardt nodded, and D allowed herself to skip right to the point. "We have no truly safe option for getting everyone out of town before the outsiders come in droves in their tour buses with their cameras and phones with access to the Internet. Jefferson is adamant about his refusal to hat, for reasons which are his right to disclose, not mine. I've yet to check in with August, but for right now, the best conclusion we've come to is to have you learn how to use a portal-jumping hat."

"The man you sent didn't explain all that to me."

"His name's Jefferson, and yeah, he's the type to not do that."

"So why did you send him?"

"He agreed to it."

"Oh."

"Are we cool?"

"Excuse me?"

"You don't have any hard feelings, do you?"

"No." D nodded. "You think if I learn to use a portal-jumping hat, I can get everyone out of town?"

"Yeah. That's the theory."

"So that's why he said all of Storybrooke's hope hinges on me."

"He said that? That's it. The cheesehead's head is mine." Gerhardt blinked. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes."

"Well, uh...I'm hanging with August at the Bed and Breakfast. You know where that is?" He nodded. "Just come look for me if you want to go through with this or not. I'll take your answer either way. Doesn't matter too much. There are other ways." He nodded again, and she moved past him to the door. He opened it for her, she nodded her thanks and disappeared.

Gerhardt turned and walked down the hall. His brother was still asleep in his room, but when he took a seat on the edge of the bed, he heard Victor groan and turn toward him. "I know you're asleep," he said in Dutch, "but something strange has happened to me." He told his tale, trusting that Victor was listening but knowing it was probably too much to hope for. At least he'd get it off his chest.

OUAT

"Thank God you're here," August said when D entered the room. "We got something."

"You do?" D asked.

"It was Peter's idea. He said he used water to get here from the Enchanted Forest." Peter held up a thermos. "This is full of magic water. We're going to go convince the town that we have a safe, effective way home, and baby, we're going."

"You're going to do something that can be easily penetrated?"

"You have a better idea?"

"Yeah, teach the best sensitive I know how to hat."

"You think we can all fit?"

"It's a long line of lands, after all."

"You honestly think we can pull this off."

"We have to."

"If we don't?" August asked, but D couldn't answer the question.


	7. The Trouble With the Knife

The Trouble With the Knife

Morraine walked up to the bank of the river and whispered, "Hello, Bae." He looked up from where he was slouched against a rock, on the bank opposite her. "Are you alright?"

"I've been thinking about that storm that's supposed to be coming," he replied. "I heard John mention a wooden man coming here in search of magical water."

"For what purpose?"

"According to John, the conversation implied a way around the Barrier, for the townsfolk to regain their freedom."

"Is it supposed to work?"

"I think Peter's going to use it to open a portal, as soon as the rest of the town can be told of it, of course. Otherwise, how do you expect to accomplish anything?"

"Good point."

"I think Gerhardt sensed the knife. I saw it in his eyes."

"What do you propose we do, then? It is your father's knife, and in not so many words, he's entrusting it to you."

"As if that doesn't come with its own set of problems." He pushed himself to his feet and waded through the river to meet Morraine on the other side. In a low voice, he added, "He gave me control over him, and I have no idea why."

"Perhaps you should ask."

"Will you come with me?"

"Absolutely."

OUAT

Bae had seen a lot of strange vehicles since he entered Storybrooke, but this one took the cake. It was a metal steed with strangely shaped ears and what he could only guess to be seating for two. "You wanna ride?" Bae looked up at the speaker, a wooden puppet wiping his hands off with a towel. "I can take you somewhere, if you need it."

"Were you in the woods, looking for magic water?" Bae asked.

"Uh...yeah."

"Bae," Morraine said gently, touching his arm.

"I'm sorry," Bae said to the puppet, "but we must be going." He hurried off after her.

"That was the man John was talking about?" Morraine asked Bae in a low voice.

"I don't see any other wooden man walking around."

They stopped at the pawn shop, and Bae glanced inside. The shop was open, but Rumpelstiltskin was nowhere to be seen. "Now what?"

"Actually, I know where he is." He opened the door, and they slipped inside. He led her to the back office, but even that was empty. "Okay, I don't know where he-wait. I'm a sensitive."

"Bae, are you sure you should...Wait, if he's not here, where else could he be but at home?"

"Which is where?"

"Alright, proceed."

Bae slipped his hand inside the quiver, and his fingers brushed the pommel of the knife. Find me Rumpelstiltskin, he thought, and an image of a strange pink house nearly flooded his senses. Morraine grabbed him by the upper arms to keep him from falling, and when his mind was clear again, he said, "I've got it. I know where he is."

"Let's go."

OUAT

"Excuse me," Rumpelstiltskin said when he answered the door. Bae and Morraine stared at him. "Were you looking for me?"

"I take it even here people don't usually come looking for you," Bae said.

"No, they don't. Please, come in." The two of them stepped into the foyer, and Rumpelstiltskin closed the door behind them. "What is it you wanted to see me about?"

"Your knife, that you let that crazy woman steal and throw at my head, that you just plucked from the air and tossed aside. You know that's a dangerous thing to do to your own knife, _the_ knife."

"Oh, is it?"

"Yes, it is. What if it wasn't me that picked it up? What if it was that woman, or Hook?"

"But it was you, just as it should be."

"I don't understand."

"Bae, now that there's magic, now that I brought magic, that knife's destruction could possibly kill me."

"So why did you..."

"It's the only way to destroy the Barrier. If the knife has magic and it is broken, the magic is released."

"And still I come back to the thought that none of this would have happened if you had just let me go off to do my duty, to fight or to die, whichever it happens to be."

"Bae...you're my son."

"And you're my father, and I love you, but I don't condone the choices you've made, and I will not, I utterly refuse, to be led on and baited along some twisted path to nowhere. Having said that, though, did you leave the knife for me to find because you trusted me or because you thought playing it off would deter enemies? Or was it both?"

"It was both."

"Alright." Bae removed the knife and held it between them, handle up. "Since you left it in my care, I believe the best place for it is where you always know where it is. With you at all times. You told me everything about this knife. I haven't betrayed its secrets, and I swear to you on pain of death, I will not betray them."

"No. Keep it."

"Papa, do you fully understand what this means? I want to make sure you're not doing something completely stupid."

"Bae, I am very aware of what I'm doing."

"Very well, then." He returned the knife to its hiding place deep within his quiver.

"Do you still..." Morraine asked.

"You may still need that weapon," Rumpelstiltskin replied. "Just because Gisborne is dead doesn't mean the danger has passed." Morraine nodded. "It's nice to see the both of you again."

"You too, Papa," Bae said, smiling. Morraine nodded a second time.

"That's sweet, but also telling."


	8. The Trouble With Cora

The Trouble With Cora

All three turned to face the speaker, and Bae recognized her at once. Rumpelstiltskin held a hand in front of his son and said, "Bae, this woman is dangerous."

"We've met," Bae replied.

"Please, just go."

"No. Now I can fight her."

"He's a courageous young man. You should be proud," the woman said. "I thought you'd raised him to be more like you."

"You've no right to say that," Rumpelstiltskin snapped.

She flicked her wrist, and the knife shot out of Bae's quiver and into her hand. "Now I do. In fact," she glanced at the knife, "I think I have complete control over you." Bae shot forward, slamming his hands against the walls on either side of him. The woman stumbled back.

"Morraine," Bae said slowly, "take my father to a man named Gerhardt Frankenstein. Tell him I sent you and that you need his help. I'll try to get the knife, and I'll join you as soon as possible."

"Be careful," Morraine said as she guided Rumpelstiltskin to the door.

"Please," Rumpelstiltskin added. Bae nodded and lunged for the knife.

OUAT

Red knocked on Victor's door with a basket on her arm. "Victor? Gerhardt? Anyone?" she asked. "Everything okay?" She looked to the street to find Rumpelstiltskin and a girl he didn't know rushing toward her. "Take that as a no."

"You feel it, too?" Gerhardt asked when he opened the door. He looked at Rumpelstiltskin and the girl. "Get in." Red stepped to the side as if she were about to enter, and Gerhardt turned his full attention to the two people on the street.

OUAT

Cora had broken through the sensitive boy's magic haze, but he had snatched the knife from her grasp. "I thought you didn't want that power," she said.

"It makes monsters of men," the boy shot back. Cora waved her hand, and the boy mirrored her gesture without any adverse effects.

"Your sensitivity can only get you so far." She flicked both wrists, and the boy slammed into the door. The knife fell from his hand.

OUAT

The witch was coming closer, and she could do more than his sensitivity could stop. Bae snatched the knife and ran. He had to get to a more advantageous position and a stronger sensitive. He felt Gerhardt's enchanted heart pounding in his chest, and he ran toward it.

The witch moved behind him, gliding rather than walking or running. Gods forbid she should ruin that dress of hers, he thought wryly as he rounded a corner. If she knew what happened when she killed the Dark One with the dagger, though... He broke off this train of thought when he saw Gerhardt trying to convince his father and Morraine to come inside with him. Bae turned, backed up, and grabbed Gerhardt by the arm. Gerhardt looked at Bae and then at the witch stepping out of the smoke she'd used as transport. He lay his hand between Bae's shoulder blades, and everything flared to brilliant life for the both of them.

The knife burned in Bae's hand, increasing in intensity the longer he held onto it. He tightened his grip nonetheless as the witch flicked her wrist several times, to no avail. "What does she want it for?" Gerhardt asked Bae.

"Power," Bae replied.

"She won't stop."

"I know." Bae staggered back at the force of the latest spell. "Cover me." Gerhardt nodded. Bae turned to Morraine and Rumpelstiltskin. The older man nodded. Bae reciprocated and plunged the blade as far as it would go into the asphalt. Morraine turned Rumpelstiltskin away. Bae summoned all of his energy and some of the magical energy around him, and he twisted the handle off the knife.

OUAT

Red pressed back against the door as a bright white flash spread out from the knife to parts unknown. "No," Cora screamed. Rumpelstiltskin cried out and crumpled to the ground. The girl eased him down as gently as possible. Then there was a crack like thunder, or a gunshot. The boy with the knife gasped and pressed his palms to his temples. Gerhardt fell to his knees, clutching his abdomen and bowing his head like he was going to throw up. Cora snarled, "You little brat," and she readied an energy ball to fire at the boy.

Victor opened the door, forcing Red to stagger forward, and he asked, "What on earth is going on out here?" Cora disappeared. So you don't want witnesses, Red thought. Victor took one look at the scene and said, "Red, call the police." Red nodded mutely and reached for her cell phone.


	9. Too Much Trouble

Too Much Trouble

Bae followed his unconscious father as far as he was allowed to and even a little further. The people kept trying to tell him to leave, but they didn't udnerstand. He'd been entrusted with his father's life and safety, and he had no idea whether he failed or not. He had to know. He had to. That was his father. No matter what words he used to explain himself, they just wouldn't listen.

Finally the doctor pulled him aside and looked him in the eye. "Your father is in very good hands," he said.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Bae asked. His voice was breaking. "Please. I need to know."

"I understand. He'll be just fine. I swear to you." Bae nodded and finally allowed himself to be guided back into the waiting area, where he sank into a chair, his hands folded in his lap, and sat there.

Whether it was hours or minutes, he couldn't be sure, and he couldn't be bothered with it, but some time later, someone said, "Excuse me?" He looked up at a woman with curly brown hair. She was wearing a brown garment that resembled a tunic, complete with black leggings and strange shoes and over-wear. "Are...are you Baelfire?"

"How do you know?" Bae asked.

"I'm a friend of your father's. He..." Bae bowed his head again. "...told me about you. I'm really sorry."

"I don't want to be fussed over." He moved his arms closer to himself. "I want to know if he's gonna be okay. I need to know if I failed or not."

"Failed?"

"He put his life in my hands. Am I a killer or a savior? I need to know these things."

The woman adopted a more pragmatic tone. "Well," she said, plucking a dead leaf from his hair and flicking it into the wastebasket, "I don't think you're going to find your answers in the middle of the woods, at least, not right away." Again, Bae looked up at her. She reminded him of vague memories he had of his mother, before she left, before Rumpelstiltskin lied to him about her fate. He bit back a sob and pressed a hand to his mouth. "Oh, don't cry," she whispered, touching him on the shoulder. "Wait, I shouldn't have said that. That's a horrible thing to say at a time like this. I'm sorry." He let her take him into her arms, and she whispered, "You cry as much as you need to, and I'll be right here." Bae surrendered and wept into her strange clothing.

OUAT

Had Rumpelstiltskin not produced a drawing of Baelfire, Belle wouldn't have known him from a hole in the wall, but stranger or not, even a blind man could see that he was in great distress and needed someone with him. She even wondered, as he wept and as the settled back so that he slid out of his chair, if he truly had a mother. Certainly Rumpelstiltskin never mentioned such a woman, but who talked of their exes with current girlfriends? That simply wasn't done. But back when she was just the hired, or rather, kidnapped, help, surely he could have said something then, especially when the topic of the missing son was brought up.

Baelfire settled down, sniffled a little, and Belle whispered, "Here." She reached for a tissue and handed it to him.

"Thanks," he whispered, blowing his nose into it and wadding it up into a ball. Then he looked at the mess he made on Belle's jacket. "I'm sorry. This must be terribly expensive-" A stroke of his hair silenced him at once.

"It's okay. I can wash it out."

"You're sure."

She nodded. "My name's Belle."

"Most people call me Bae." He occupied himself by using the ball of tissue to wipe off the stain on Belle's jacket as much as possible.

"Let me take that." She slipped the wad out of his hand and tossed it into the wastebasket.

"I...I didn't mean to..."

She tilted his chin up. "It's okay," she whispered. They stood, and she lowered her hand. "Here, why don't you come home with me. I don't imagine a hospital chair is very comfortable, and I don't think you'll find your answers in the woods. That and I think you could use a shower and some fresh clothes."

"What's a shower?"

She laughed. "You'll see."

Bae allowed himself a smirk, but he quickly regained all seriousness. "Do you have anything for Morraine? She was tied to a tree for three hundred years, and her clothing is in worse shape than mine."

"Actually, I think I do have something. Of course, I have no idea where this Morraine actually is."

"I can find her."

"Alright."

"Thank you. For everything."

"Of course." Belle wrapped an arm around Bae's shoulders and started to lead him out of the hospital. "You know," she said, "your father once told me I might like you."

"When did he tell you that?"

"We're...we're dating. It's nothing official or exclusive yet, but we're going out together and being seen together, usually at the diner. I'll show you where that is tomorrow."

Bae couldn't help what came out of his mouth next. "Is there a chance you'll be my stepmother?"

"I won't be evil, if that's what you're asking." They laughed. "Well, I think it's possible."

Bae nodded and looked up at the street. "Where're we going?"

"I live in the apartment above the library I've been working on opening." She pointed at a spire rising above the rest of the town. "It's right under that clock."

"That must be a bother, with its constant tolling."

"Actually it hasn't moved for quite some time, thirty years, I've been told."

"Oh."

"Now come on. Let's get you settled in."


	10. Out of the Ashes

Out of the Ashes

Victor sucked down yet another cup of straight black coffee, the strongest blend Granny's Diner produced, and had himself sterilized yet again for some more emergency surgery. Yay for giants, he thought bitterly. As if this Rumpelstiltskin business didn't have the eye and ear of the town already. Then again, at least the giant business did, because Rumpelstiltskin had more enemies than either he or Gerhardt had time to count.

When the victims of the giant's rampage first came in, Victor was grateful that Gerhardt made him sleep. Now, though, it probably wouldn't have mattered. He was going in to operate on someone who was run through with a wooden pipe which needed to be carefully removed, splinters included, from his torso. This should have been a top priority, he thought, the same way he would've said to a nurse. Then again, so should a lot of patients, every last one. He was the town doctor, and these people, magic fiends or no, depended on him.

So he ran on coffee. Beat running on alcohol, that was for sure. It was a miracle he could get Greg out of the position he'd been in. He didn't necessarily attribute it to God, but it was a miracle nonetheless. Now the beverage of choice to keep him up and running was coffee, and if anything, he did his job better. Of course, he had to give credit where credit was due and attribute part of his newfound stability to Red's presence in his life.

The werewolf danced around at the back of his mind as he set to work on yet another challenging case. If he was one hell of a doctor, this was certainly the arena in which to prove it.

OUAT

"I'm sorry I don't have much in the way of boys' clothes," Belle said as Bae turned the shirt and pants combination over and over again.

"It's okay," he replied.

"Let me know how they fit." Bae nodded, and Belle walked out of the room. Bae stood and separated the shirt and trousers, to find a grey long-sleeve shirt and a black short-sleeve shirt in the pile. She must have expected him to wear the shirts together, and Bae felt he had a good sense of exactly how. He changed into the shirts and the trousers of strange material that seemed to hold together remarkably well in spite of the signs of wear. He went through several movements to find that the fabric didn't tear or pull at his flesh or rub the wrong way, and armed with this knowledge, he slipped out of the room to the main room, where Belle sat on the armchair, her arms in her lap. "What do you think?"

"They fit well."

"That's good. Do they itch?"

"What's this made out of? What's all this made out of? It feels a little strange."

"The shirts are cotton, the jeans are denim."

"That's what they're called? Jeans?" Belle nodded. Bae walked over and took a seat in the chair facing her. "No one called, did they? No news yet, one way or the other?"

"Dr. Whale called early this morning, when you were asleep. He says that your father is stable but in a coma."

"What does that mean?"

"It means he's alive, but in something of a deep sleep, as if under a curse."

"It'll be okay, though, right? He'll...wake up?"

"That's likely, yes."

"What happens then?"

"We have no idea."

Bae nodded. "Just so long as he's alive."

"Agreed," Belle said, reciprocating his nod.

OUAT

Red walked into Victor's office with a basket of goodies, which nowadays was mostly composed of coffee. "Thank you," Victor rasped, reaching for a cup and downing it in seconds before throwing the cup into the wastebasket.

"Somebody had a long day," Red said with a laugh. She set the basket on his desk and sat in the chair opposite his.

"Thank God Gerhardt made me sleep, but it hardly seems to have made a difference." He sipped from the second of this series of cups. "Why don't you help yourself to one?"

"I don't need it. You do."

"Surely you'd like some."

"Actually not really. I just wanted to say hi, see how you were."

"In that case, hello, and I'm quite well, considering."

"Considering that you're sleep-deprived and trying to make up for it with a beverage you know will make you crash later?"

"Yeah, that's basically it." He took another sip of coffee. "Thank you."

"Any time. Monster to monster."

Victor raised the cup in a toast. "To monsters." This earned a laugh from Red, and he smiled.

"Maybe this time you won't get called anywhere, so we can actually talk."

"Are you off today?"

"Granny actually approves, so she let me take a little extra time off to see you."

"There's a shock." He chuckled and took another sip. Then he licked his lip and looked at Red. "What was it you wanted to discuss?"

"Us."

"What about us, may I ask?"

"Will you go out with me?" Victor's cup fell from his hand and burst open upon impact with the floor. Coffee spilled out in every direction. Red couldn't help but burst out laughing. "You look so ridiculous right now," she managed. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh, but..." She took a few deep breaths. "Have you never been asked out by a girl before?"

"I haven't been asked out period. The people I did ask out stood me up or turned me down. I was like...I was like that nerdy kid in high school that was a social untouchable."

She shrugged. "Their loss. So, yes or no?"

Victor nodded. "Yes." Red grinned.


	11. Exchange of News

Exchange of News

D slipped a note under Jefferson's door and turned to make her way down the street to Victor's apartment, where Gerhardt was staying. August was walking Peter through his portal-making process as she went about her errands, and odds are he would have finished by now, so they were probably playing Parcisi or Yatzee or something. Didn't much matter, she thought, shaking her head. She knocked on Victor's door and wasn't much surprised to find that Gerhardt had answered. "Yes?" he asked.

"There's another way," D replied. "I figured you'd want to know, and I figured I owed it to you to tell you. I didn't want you going through unwarranted trouble."

"Thank you."

"Not a problem."

"Have you told Jefferson?"

"He knows. I left him a note." Gerhardt nodded. "How's your brother. Is he holding out okay?"

"It's another rough day at the hospital, I take it, since I haven't heard from him in hours. He did get some sleep, though."

"That's good. He probably needs it."

"Oh, he does."

D nodded. "Well, I'll leave you alone so you can focus on making sure you can take care of your brother."

"Thank you." She nodded again and turned to leave. "Excuse me, D?"

She looked at him again. "Yeah?"

"Will you come in and rest? If you don't have anything pressing, of course."

"Sure." She crutched into the apartment, and Gerhardt closed the door behind her. "You just wanna talk?"

"Yes."

"About what?"

He shrugged. "It doesn't much matter. Anything will do."

"Well, I can tell you anything you ever needed to know about Oz, and a lot more you didn't need, too."

OUAT

A party of four moving ever north at the rate at which D, the Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow were going was news by anyone's standards, and their mission, what details of it that escaped their tight-knit circle, swiftly became the talk of the whole of the Land of Oz. Many said that it couldn't be done, and D couldn't help but scoff when she heard that news when they stopped to rest. "Here's to proving them wrong," she said, raising a glass in toast. The Scarecrow and the Tin Man toasted with her, but the Lion still looked around like someone would jump out at them. "The point of this is to face the threat head on before she can do anything about it. Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

"R-really?" the Lion asked.

"Yeah, really."

"I thought I was just here to support you."

"That is perfectly fine, and I appreciate it."

"Oh. Thanks."

"No problem. Any time." The Lion nodded and threw back a shot. D nodded, smiled, and took a sip.

OUAT

Belle was teaching Bae the fundamentals of the cereal bowl when someone knocked on her door. She answered, and Bae followed immediately at her heels. She opened the door, and a young woman rushed past her and threw her arms around Bae's neck. "Don't you ever disappear like that again," she said.

"Morraine, how did you find me?" Bae asked.

"I asked around and finally talked to someone at the hospital. She said this woman took you back home, and it took me a little while to get her to tell me where exactly that is. Now I know."

"Now you do."

"You're Morraine?" Belle asked.

"Yes," Morraine replied.

"This is Belle," Bae added.

"Oh."

"Bae told me you might need some new clothes." She gave Morraine a quick once-over.

Morraine glanced down at her apparel and paused for a moment to think what someone of higher rank than herself would say. "I'd...I'd appreciate that, thank you."

"I'll be right back, then."

Belle walked into her bedroom, and Bae turned to Morraine. "The Barrier still holds, but I think now we're all trapped. I don't know yet if outsiders can still get in, but we're certainly stuck now."

"Breaking the knife didn't work?"

"No." She gave him a kiss which could have meant any number of things, and for a moment, it completely distracted Bae from his problems. She pulled away, and he whispered, "Thank you."

"Alright, I've got something," Belle said, returning from her room with some clothing in hand.

"Thank you," Morraine replied. Bae let her go with Belle into the room.


	12. While They Were Out

While They Were Out

"So, what finally made your grandmother approve?" Victor asked, setting his water glass back down on the table.

"I think it's that you stopped hitting on every waitress in sight every time you came in here," Red replied. "That's what she'd notice the most, at least."

"It's not something cool, like, she's not afraid you're going to eat me?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Oh, dammit." They both laughed, and he bowed and shook his head. "So close." She laughed a little harder, and he looked up to the bright grin on her face. He smiled in response. "We should do this more often."

"Why's that?"

"Because it's getting my mind off work a hell of a lot better and faster than coffee or whiskey."

"Things have to be settling down by now."

"There's still a lot to do. Did anyone think of this town's one and only competent doctor when they set a giant loose on Storybrooke? No."

"It's Cora, okay? And Regina. They don't think of anyone but themselves."

"Even when she wanted Daniel resurrected, it was for her own happiness."

"Wait, she wanted Daniel back?"

"The first time yes."

"The first time?"

"Part of it was my folly, as well, for making a deal with Rumpelstiltskin. He told me I would get an enchanted heart for my brother. I just couldn't shake the impression that if I just asked, I'd have gotten what I wanted. I could have brought them both back."

"Yeah, then they could go to monster school together, your brother and her boyfriend."

"Monster school?"

"To learn how to be human again, after being dead and preserved and resurrected and whatever else happened to them. I mean, I don't know, but yeah. It could've happened."

"Would you have agreed to teach them?"

"Yeah."

"If I'd have known you then, of course."

"Yeah, sure, I'd have done it."

Victor smiled. "Thanks, Red."

"Sure, no problem."

"So, you work here. What do you recommend?"

"Well, let's see..." Red said as she cracked open a menu.

OUAT

Bae and Morraine walked hand in hand down the street toward the town line. "We can't leave, remember?" Morraine asked.

"I know," Bae replied. "I just want to see if anyone can come in."

"And if they can't, then we're screwed?"

"Something like that, but at least we won't face the same problem that being unable to leave and have a flood of outsiders causes."

"True."

"Besides, full Barriers seem like they're easier to handle. The problem is more...complete. I feel like that way it can be handled better."

"Maybe you're right. Only time will tell."

"Indeed."

They stopped at the painted red line on the road that marked the impassable Barrier, the line that separated Storybrooke from the world at large. The line that separated a land with magic from a land without magic. The edge of the world.

Morraine glanced at the line and then looked at the forest. She reached for the edge and then recoiled with a cry. She shook her hand and then pressed it to her mouth. "I don't blame you," Bae said, looking at her.

"This thing really could kill us if we tried to leave," she replied.

"It truly is the edge of the world."

OUAT

"Well, those two are enjoying themselves," Snow said to Granny. She was looking out of the corner of her eye at Red and Victor, talking and laughing over their dinner. Snow herself was here with David, also on a date.

"I'll never hear the end of it," replied Granny, donning an air of feigned annoyance.

"At least she'll finally find happiness," David said, looking from the couple to Granny.

"One can hope."

"Even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing," Snow said. "Just ask Henry."

"Well, I'm watchin' that boy, and I still have that crossbow if anyone ever needs it."

David and Snow looked at Red and Victor again. "Don't think that'll be necessary," David said.


	13. The Edge of the World

The Edge of the World

Bae and Morraine returned to Belle's apartment and eased inside, as by then it was near midnight and she was sure to be asleep. "Alright," Morraine whispered. "We need a solution."

"We need to know who's all with us," Bae replied. "The Merry Men, certainly. Gerhardt."

"The woman that got us out of that strange place."

"She seems to know people who would work with us. We just need to talk to her."

"Tomorrow." Bae nodded. "And how do we propose to go about actually getting everyone out of here?"

"We have to talk it out with them, but obviously the knife is off the table."

"That would leave the tunnels we used to get here."

"Or Peter and his way, even though it's easily infiltrated. At least there wasn't anything trapped that made the earth shake while we tried to pass through."

"Alright, then, we need to see them both."

OUAT

Gerhardt watched Victor all but bounce like a pogo stick into the living room. "Must've gone well," he said.

"Exceedingly," Victor replied, floating into the chair.

"And...and work?"

"Starting to settle down, thank God. I'm convinced she should've cursed two or three more adequate doctors."

"You're the only one?"

"There's another, but he got his medical degree from a pickaxe."

"How's that possible?"

"Only in a land with magic. Only in somewhere equally as nonsensical as Storybrooke."

"Wow. What a world we live in now."

"Speak for yourself. You can go home."

"Actually I can't."

"Why not?"

"Breaking the knife made the Barrier stronger, it didn't break it. Now we're all stuck here, and I've got a very good feeling outsiders can't come in."

"Well, that solves our outsider problem."

"But we're still stuck here, and if we cross, we could die instead of just losing our memories."

"Aren't you still free of its constraints?"

"Not anymore."

"Gerhardt...if I have to resurrect you a second time..."

"Not just me. All of us, including you, but if you die, nobody knows the secret to life. We can't bring you back. You're the only one that knows how. You're the only one that knows the secret."

"And it's just as well that it dies with me." Gerhardt blinked. "I'm sorry."

"You're afraid of monsters. Well, men can be monsters even when they're alive."

"True."

"And not every monster is a monster."

"I know."

"I didn't mean to distract from your date. You looked so happy."

"It's okay."

"I'm glad it went well."

"Thanks."

"Is there hope of a second?"

"A guy can dream, can't he?"

Gerhardt laughed. "Yes, he can. Just don't get too dirty."

"What are you going to do, read my mind?"

"A man can try."

Victor shook his head and mockingly moaned, "Oh, what have I done?" Gerhardt gave him a light slap on the back, and they laughed together.

OUAT

D released the breath she'd been holding for several moments and sank into the chair. It had been almost a day and she still hadn't been able to temper the pain that started when the Barrier was suddenly reinforced. Less well-trained sensitives were probably able, since they weren't sure what they were looking for and sure it would pass soon. She, on the other hand, knew exactly what had happened. Everyone who was currently in Storybrooke was sealed in tight, and even now there could be no change in population.

She groaned, stood, and walked over to August. She shook both him and Peter awake. "We have to move now," she said. "This is a hell of a lot worse than we expected, and now we're all as good as screwed. We have to get out of town."

"Think they'll appreciate phone calls this late at night?" August asked.

"Tell them it's an emergency, and they won't care."

"What about the Dark One?" Peter asked.

"Dammit." D settled back and ran her hands through her hair. "Count on dead guys to always throw wrenches in things."

"He's not dead."

"I know he's not. If he was, I'd feel it, but he's damn near and needs the constant supervision of a doctor and some well-trained nurses. Unless they're using their cursed memories as their guide, though, he may well be dead."

"What do we do, then?" August asked. "We can't stay here, we can't leave an unconscious man unattended, the Enchanted Forest either doesn't exist or is a complete shit-hole... We're damn near out of options."

"No, we have options. We're just in a rough spot, that's all."

"You know you don't believe that."

D sighed. "You're right. I feel like we're screwed."

"With you at the helm, how can that be?" August asked jokingly. D smacked him on the side of the head.

"This isn't the time for funny business, not when-" D broke off as a low rumble moved through Storybrooke.


	14. More Trouble and a Plan

More Trouble and a Plan

The tremor woke Belle from sleep, and she ran out to the living room to find Bae and Morraine both watching her, both blank-faced. "Are you two alright?" she asked. They nodded. "Did you...experience this before?"

"When we traveled here," Bae replied. "Did you feel that?"

"Yes."

"We mean to say this time it's not so bad," Morraine said.

"Except it means whatever tried to escape then is making another attempt now," Bae added.

"Is that bad?" Belle asked.

"It could be worse."

"Gisborne could still be alive," Morraine said, cracking a half-smile.

"Besides, that thing is still a long way off."

"So...we're safe?" Belle asked.

"For now."

OUAT

"The hell?" D whispered, steadying herself on August's bureau and the foot of his bed.

"What's going on?" Peter asked.

"That bitch is determined." She checked herself. "Pardon my French."

"It sounds like English to me."

"Damn you, you eternal child."

"What do I have to do with this?"

Note to self, D thought. I am never having kids. "Okay, look, I'm dropping the subject. We have to talk to people and explain our plan to them. You have to get your rest in case this goes through. If it does, you have to be ready. Can you do that?"

"Where're we going?"

"Can you get us to just beyond the Barrier?"

"I don't know if it works like that."

"Well guess what, buddy boy, you're gonna have to find that out."

"Does it still stand?" August asked. "That we not leave an unconscious man unattended?"

"Yes, it still stands."

"What if this passes and nothing else happens? Aren't we just panicking for nothing?"

"Can you feel anything, or is it just me?"

"You wanna tear into me, go ahead. We have time."

"Great, now you just robbed me of the pleasure."

August lay back down. "Now can we go back to sleep?"

"You can. Be my guest."

"She's sick like a sensitive," Peter said.

"Thank you, mini-me elf boy," D snapped. "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"I'm a Lost Boy. I've never had a bedtime."

"Well now you do. Get to it." D turned and made her way out the door with only a muttered farewell, but she knew she couldn't leave even if he wanted to, not with things in the state they were in.

OUAT

Gerhardt was also startled awake, though he had no idea of Belle, nearly on the other side of town. He stood, grabbed a knife from the block in the kitchen, and walked into Victor's bedroom. Victor shifted in his bed and wiped his eyes. "Are you okay?" Gerhardt asked.

"Mmm, fine," Victor replied. He shifted in sleep and pulled the covers over his body. "I wanna go back to sleep."

Gerhardt grinned and nodded. "You do that, brother," he whispered. He turned away and closed the door behind him, and then he walked into the living room again. The tremor had long since passed, but he recognized it from when he traveled here from the Land Without Color, as it was called among the people that brought him here with his companions. That thing in the tunnels that D feared was making another attempt to escape, and so far as Gerhardt could guess, it would only be a matter of time.

And Storybrooke was a prime target for an adversary, except now the adversary had to already be on this side of the Barrier, since otherwise he couldn't get inside. But with that, they had the advantage. As soon as someone got into Storybrooke, they became trapped, and the Barrier was now lethal. The only way in or out was by tunnels or magic hats, and the only method they had access to was the tunnels, which was exactly what the adversary wanted.

But the Barrier was lethal, he reminded himself. Someone knocked on the door, and he answered to D. "You're here," he said. "I have something to talk to you about."

"You, too?" D asked.

"Come in." He stepped aside, and she entered. "I know how to use the Barrier to our advantage."

"You do?"

"We need the enemy to come here first."

"What? Are you out of your mind? That's the last thing we need."

"No, the Barrier's fatal, and as soon as anyone finds their way here, they have to use that way to get out. You can't just drive out of town if you circumvent the Barrier on your way in, and if you try, it executes you."

"How does that help solve anything?"

"We can get rid of whatever's scaring you." Gerhardt quickly realized he was waving a knife around in his enthusiasm, and he set it on the nearest flat surface, an end table. "Then we can worry about escaping. Maybe...maybe we'll do both at once. Just think. We can get rid of that thing, and we can all get out of here."

"The thing is a witch, by the way, but thing suits her."

"You two must have quite a history."

D smirked and shook her head. "You have no idea."


	15. In the North of Oz

In the North of Oz

D, the Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin Man were introduced to Cesar the commander of the Flying Monkeys just outside the northernmost city in Oz, the city of Glinda the Good Witch, named, of course, after herself. "How many did you bring with you?" D asked, cutting straight to the point.

"The entire force," Cesar replied with a near perfect English accent. "Give us the order and we will invade."

D paused a moment. "I'll signal," she said. "I've got as an ally Toto the hellhound. I'll call for him and tell him to howl, and that will be your signal, or he'll charge out at you directly, depending on what I can get him to do."

"If you rescued him from the wizard, he'll do anything you want."

"So you know about hellhounds."

"They are extremely loyal creatures. Given that you saved this one, he will do anything and everything for you."

"Okay, that's what we'll arrange. Sound good?"

"Perfectly reasonable." They shook on it, which, to D, felt a little strange, but it was nothing compared to some of the things she'd seen during her time in Oz. "Excellent. We'll be waiting right outside the walls for your signal and the breach."

"Great." She turned to her three companions and said, "Go time."

"Are you sure?" the Lion asked.

"This isn't the time to back out now. Remember what I said?" He nodded. "'Kay, then. We have a war to win." D said this to the city walls, and she started to walk around them to an entrance that wasn't as closely guarded as it was supposed to be. She gestured for her companions to follow her, and as a group, they slipped inside.

The city beyond was a little girl's paradise and a monstrous pink nightmare to anyone over the age of four, or any prepubescent boy. Just as in the Emerald City, even the people were dressed in pink in all shapes and sizes, but always closely matching in shade. However, unlike the Emerald City, every conceivable surface was pink, even the roads. D thought surely this was the only place in Oz not to have yellow bricks for paving stones. Oz just doesn't get any stranger than this, she said to herself.

"Where do we start?" the Scarecrow asked her in a whisper.

"We go by size. The biggest building in the city is used most by its ruler," D replied. "If anything, Glinda followed the Wizard's model."

"So where would that be?"

"Downtown." She led them through the streets, moving ever inward. Here or in Kansas, all settlements were the same. They followed the same basic structure, and that structure could easily be exploited for a tactical advantage. Facing off with Glinda after they found her, though, that was another matter. She was a powerful and persuasive enemy, and even though they had the Flying Monkeys on their side, D had some doubts. She'd seen what Glinda could make happen with the wave of a wand. It had been done to her back when she was a naive little farm girl from Kansas brought to Oz by a tornado and a freak accident in the connection of worlds. Glinda had in effect magically superglued ruby slippers to her feet, and not just any ruby slippers, the Ruby Slippers, the only realm transporters native to that land. D no longer had them, thank God. The Wicked Witch of the West, known to friends as Theodora or Theo, knew a way to unglue them, and D traded them for the broomstick to take to the Emerald City. If Glinda got her hands on those Slippers...

D stopped her train of thought as soon as she stopped at the steps of the grandest building in the city. "We're here," she said. "Let's go see if she's available." They walked up the steps side by side. The Lion still shook with his fear, but, D noted with a smile, he "saddled up anyway." It was time to tangle with a real wicked witch.

OUAT

The building was much more expansive than its counterpart in the Emerald City, which spoke to Glinda's presumption. They moved ever inward to a giant rotunda under the expansive dome. D remembered reading somewhere of a man that had a plan to build something like this, big enough to have its own clouds if enough people breathed here at one time. She thought it preposterous when she read it, but now it seemed well within the realm of possibility, with or without all of her previous experience in this land of things far beyond the strange.

It was the Lion who finally drew her attention away from the dome by stuttering something incomprehensible and pointing down the hall. D looked at him and saw that the Scarecrow and the Tin Man were farther along down the hall the Lion was indicating than the Lion himself, and she ran to catch up to them. The Lion followed, and soon all four were staring at the wall of a second rotunda, this one considerably darker than the first and even shaded in dark pink. The wall was lined with glass cases the size of coffins, in which were suspended front-lit figures, puppets. D could feel the heaviness of magic on them.

And there was another focus of magic, as well, the very center of the rotunda, on which, on top of a thick column, was a similar glass case. Pink mist swirled around it. D approached gingerly, fearing what she would see taking place in that case where magic was at work. She finally stopped and peered over the edge of the case.

The woman was brown-haired and light-skinned like D herself, a little bit older, dressed like a working man. When she disappeared, she was doing farm work, D remembered. Now, though, under the pernicious influence of Glinda the Not-so-Good, Emily Gale was slowly but surely being turned into a marionette. She called for Toto and told him to howl for Cesar.


	16. The Truth Comes Out

The Truth Comes Out

D had finished explaining everything to the group of portal jumpers and the Charmings, who were invited to sit in. Gerhardt then stepped up and laid out what he knew and understood of the situation. August laid out the alternative. It all played out just as they had arranged beforehand, and when the three of them finished, they were all met with complete silence. Finally Jefferson asked, "How do you honestly expect that to work?"

"It's based on solid tactics," Gerhardt said at once.

"That and we stayed up all night ironing out every last detail to present to you," D said. "Just to show we're not completely crazy. Well, to show most of us aren't completely crazy."

"Hey, what're you saying?" Jefferson asked.

"Don't go into that, please," Emma said, holding up a hand, closing her eyes, and shaking her head. "He's too far gone."

"Joy," D muttered. "Anyway, we have a way to move forward. What Gerhardt proposes is dangerous. He suggests not only drawing the witch here through the use of trods, but also dragging her across the line when that could prove lethal to all of us, and when she could prove beyond it anyway by proxy, or lack thereof. It's based on a lot of unknowns and assumptions, but we have a threat to eliminate, whether the rest of you notice it or not. Believe me, sensitives notice."

"What makes you think we can pull this crazy scheme off?" David asked.

"There may be a way to get out of here as a result," Gerhardt said. "If we eliminate the threat, I mean."

"If breaking the knife didn't free Storybrooke," D added, "it's anyone's guess what will."

"And if we never get out?" David asked. "If we never go home?"

"There's a way. There's always a way. The beans, for example, or a hat similar to Jefferson's. We can and we will get out of here."

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Emma asked.

"We do this work for a living," Jefferson said. "For different reasons, of course, but it's a living."

"So you know about things like this."

"This is weird," D said, "but there's precedent. We can handle this, and we know how."

"That's all well and good," Jefferson said, "but what if this fails?"

"I said, there are ways. Plural. If we fail here, we have something to fall back on. Don't think for a second I'm giving up on any of you. That's not how I roll."

"You're not going to give up on us? Then you have all of our support," David said, earning him looks from Snow and Emma. "Trust me on this," he said. "If they need our support and they're our way out of here, then we have to give it to them. That's how this works."

"And if they're cheating us out of everything we own?" Emma asked.

"That's not what I do," D said. "I don't know or really care about the others and their usual patterns, but as long as they work with me, believe me, I'm keeping tabs."

Emma paused a moment and studied D for a moment. "Okay," she said. "Where do we start?"

OUAT

Bae allowed the doctor to guide him into his father's room, and he walked up to his bedside. "You can talk to him, if you wish," the doctor said.

"What do I say?" Bae asked.

"Anything you want."

"How do I know he'll hear me?"

"We have no way to know that, but it certainly seems to help the visitors a great deal."

"What about you?"

"Excuse me?"

"There's a note on that board that indicates that you're anxious about something. At least, I think it's you."

"I'm just afraid this will turn out like the Henry Mills case."

"Who's Henry Mills?"

"He's a boy who took a bite of apple turnover and somehow fell into a coma."

"This isn't a sleeping curse."

"What is it, then?"

"Rumpelstiltskin is the last Dark One this or any other world will ever know." The doctor's eyes widened. "With his knowledge and permission, of course."

"That makes this different?"

"I'm sure they both went willingly. I know my father did, and from what little you told me, Henry Mills strikes me as a hero, or at the very least a hero in training. The manner, though, is different." The doctor nodded vaguely. "I won't confuse or distract you any longer. I'm sure you have a lot to attend to." He nodded again and walked out of the room. Bae looked at his father. "The doctor says you're in good hands," he whispered.

"Baelfire?" Bae looked up at a normal-sized and much less foolishly-dressed Blue Fairy. "I've heard of your act of bravery."

"I didn't really have much choice," he replied, returning his gaze to his father.

"Even so, no one's ever done damage to the knife before."

"The Duke needed it to keep power over the Dark One before my father, and my father was afraid for his life and also that someone would take command of him, as well. He had a lot to be afraid of, regardless of whether or not his reputation as a coward was warranted."

"You did a good thing, eliminating the Dark One."

"Look at my father's condition," Bae snapped, shooting to his feet and wheeling on her. "Does that look like a good thing? Does it look like my father is better for it? Does it?" The Blue Fairy was stunned into silence. "No," he said. "It doesn't. My father is in the predicament he's in because of all this, and it all started when you gave me that magic bean."

"It started when your father became the Dark One."

"You never told me I would become a sensitive, that it would render me unable to judge my father for his magical abilities."

"He was-"

"It doesn't matter. You knew what was going to happen to me, and you gave me the bean anyway. You sent me to Neverland."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course you do. Why else would you send me away?"

"If he went with you, you'd have gone to a land without magic, and you'd have been together. He chose magic over you."

"No. He'd have been separated from me, anyway. If he went with me, he'd have been trapped in the Nowhereland forever." The Blue Fairy paled. "You know I'm right." She opened and closed her mouth several times, and Bae breezed past her on his way out of the hospital room.

OUAT

Bae paused when he saw the puppet man standing in the waiting area. "What're you doing here?" he asked.

"I just wanna see if your father's okay, is all," the puppet man replied.

"How did you know who he was?"

"The Blue Fairy told me."

"What's she to you?"

"She made me human once."

"With conditions, I'm sure."

"To be selfless, brave and true."

"And you weren't."

"She had me take care of Emma, a baby when I was seven."

"That's impossible."

"She had me do it, anyway, and of course I failed."

"Not everyone can live up to her standards."

The puppet man gave a half-smile. "Name's August."

"Bae."

"I hope he gets well soon."

"Me, too. Thanks." August nodded.


	17. The Group Discussion

The Group Discussion

August tossed a shirt and some pants in Peter's face. "Look sharp, kid," he said. "We're needed at the station in twenty minutes."

"Why're we going there?" Peter asked.

"You need to explain to them how your tunnel works."

"But I don't know how it works. I just...do it."

"There's gonna be a sensitive on hand to help you figure it out."

"Is this about the earth shaking? Do we have to get out of here soon?"

"We're working on the fine points of what we're going to do in..." August checked his watch. "Fourteen minutes and thirty-six seconds." Peter stood, stared at the clothes, and snapped his fingers, instantaneously swapping out new clothes for old ones. "Wow, that's impressive."

Peter shrugged. "Let's go," he said. "We don't want to be late, remember?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

"I heard you were crazy, but you're...not."

"It's tied to why I don't age. I'm half-fey, and if I grow up, they pick my side for me. I guess I snapped when I found out, because that's the last thing I really remember."

"Oh."

"We should go."

OUAT

The dog and the Flying Monkeys appeared in the rotunda in quick succession, but D was shocked too hard by what was happening to tell them exactly what it was that troubled her. The Scarecrow and the Tin Man took her to one side while Cesar assessed the situation and sent the monkeys out to every corner of the palace in search of the one responsible for the transformation of Emily and the perpetrator of the other wicked deeds proudly put on display there. D turned back to Emily and asked, "Can anything be done to help her?"

"We have to break Glinda's spell," Cesar replied.

"Can we do that?"

"We can try."

"Will she wake up? Will all of them wake up?"

"I have no idea, but it will certainly save the young woman."

"Then let's do it. My sister needs us."

OUAT

"How's the patient?" Red asked when Victor returned to his office. He was on his sixth cup of coffee for the day, and she had cups seven and eight in her hands already. They also had enough understanding of each other to know exactly what patient to whom she was referring.

"Still unresponsive," Victor replied, sinking into the chair. "Thanks for the coffee."

"No problem. Nobody's been after him, have they?"

"No, thank God. I have enough to deal with as it is without people attacking my patients." He gulped down some coffee. "I think my brother needs to abduct me again and tie me to the bed so I actually sleep."

"He's at a meeting at the Sheriff's station with a lot of the other jumpers."

"What's he doing there?"

"He's got some plan for dealing with some witch in the trod system, or whatever it is that's going on. I think you should ask him. He should know more than I do."

"I'm sure he does, but quite frankly, I think that's my brother's business, and mine is to help clean up the medical messes that the leadership creates in their efforts to 'save' everyone."

"Hopefully this works. They're working with competent professionals. I think."

"I think so, too."

"You were ranting about the Brothers Grimm a while back, and their book, their collection of stories. Your brother told me how they got lost, how they tossed around titles, and among them was Once Upon a Time."

"The same title as Henry's book, I know. You were just as excited, especially when that topic came up. You think it fell out of...wherever...when Storybrooke was created, it found its way into Mary Margaret's possession, and from there she gave it to Henry and it eventually helped Emma believe in magic and break the curse."

"Yes."

"Do you think they'll be found?"

"They have to be somewhere. I mean, sure you can disappear with respect to one realm or another, but as far as I know you don't disappear disappear, as in cease to exist."

"That is true."

"I mean, we don't have to deal with this right away, but I'm just putting it out there to think about."

"I understand." Victor sipped some more coffee and then set his cup on the desk. "Your mind seems to never be at rest."

"I'm not as in on the leading of Storybrooke as I seem. I'm just called in for battle plans and stuff like that. I kinda need to keep busy."

"Are you?"

"Yeah, actually, since now I have you to worry about, and your brother, but Gerhardt is, well, Gerhardt. And then there's Greg and Alice, and the Barrier, and everything that goes along with it, even though those aren't my concerns. So yeah, I'm keeping busy."

"That's good. Idle hands are the devil's playthings, and I certainly wouldn't want to see that happen to you, or any werewolf for that matter."

"I never could figure out that expression. Every time I hear it I keep picturing Satan in his lair surrounded by fire, with a collection of hands that he does weird things with." They both erupted into a fit of laughter, and through it she managed to ask, "Does that make any sense at all?" Victor nodded. His laughter was such that he could hardly speak. "It's like 'to go missing'. I mean, do you pack up and move to Missing, Michigan? Is there another realm for people that disappear never to be seen or heard of again? I don't get it."

Victor started to recover himself, and he said, "English is such a strange language."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"All idioms are weird, though. It's a miracle any of them ever caught on, most of them are so confusing."

"Thank God we don't use then anymore."

"Actually it's a sign of the decline in face-to-face communication, which is being replaced by email, text messages, and other forms of non-personal interaction."

"At least we get right to the point and it doesn't have to be confusing."

"It used to be people knew what idioms referred to. Now it's a miracle if anyone's ever heard a given expression."

"Heh, yeah." Their conversation started to drift to other topics.

OUAT

"Here we are," August said as he and Peter walked into the Sheriff's station, Peter carrying the thermos.

"Who's this kid?" Emma asked.

"My name's Peter Pan," Peter said, "and I can make portals with water."

"That's our way of bypassing the trod system altogether," August added. "Unless, of course, you still wanna lure the witch out from her hiding place and try to kill her, knowing, of course, that if you fail, we're all screwed."

"Is that our only other option?" Emma asked.

"We have threats to eliminate and places to go," D said. "David here expressed as much through his excitement at the idea of going back to the Enchanted Forest, but I've gotta say he's gonna need all the luck in the universe, because I heard the curse turned it into a shithole."

"Yeah, that's pretty much true."

"It still exists, though, right?" David asked.

"Yeah. Not sure why you want to go, though."

"If we could just undo all the damage the curse did-"

"The curse was meant to destroy that entire realm, and if not for whoever salvaged a part of it, the entire thing would be gone," D said. "In any event, we still have to deal with the witch. She can still get into Peter's tunnel, and we can't have that happen if we're trying to get everyone home."

"Don't you have magic slippers or something?" Emma asked.

"Traded those for a broomstick."

Then Gerhardt burst into the room, Greg close behind him. "There's a problem," Gerhardt said.


	18. Capture and Release

Capture and Release

"What sort of problem are we talking about?" Emma asked, stepping forward.

"It's my wife," Greg explained. "She has escape plans of her own."

"Don't tell me she's really gonna do it," D said, but Greg nodded. "Dammit."

"Wait, what's going on?" Emma asked.

"Alice is gonna open a trod to Wonderland, and not only is Wonderland the only place where the mushrooms are worse than hallucinogenic, she's gonna open a door for the witch."

"We have plans for that, though, right? Isn't that what you said?"

"It's still bad news, and it could still fail," Gerhardt said. "Not every plan is perfect."

"This one just has to work," D said. "This witch is capable of anything."

"It's not Cora, is it?" David asked.

"Haven't you been paying attention?" D snapped, wheeling on him. "This one's trapped, and Cora's not, and unless you haven't figured that out by now, I don't know what's in this town's water, and I'm not keen on finding out."

"What's her name, then?"

"Glinda."

OUAT

D walked up to Emily's side and looked down at her face. Magic was all around them, and as good as Glinda professed to be, it itched of evil. She took a deep breath, lay her hand on the glass case, closed her eyes, and started to relax and push her desperate hopes aside in favor of calm assurances and assertive proclamations. Cesar's monkeys were patrolling the palace in search of the witch, and while it would be some time before she was found and killed, at least it was getting done while she was here trying to save her sister.

Something prickled behind her, and she couldn't help but turn and face the young blonde woman she was so familiar with, in her usual pink dress trimmed in gold and cut in a style she thought belonged in a textbook on the Middle Ages, no less. "What are you doing?" Glinda asked sharply.

"You're cursing my sister," D shot back, and she looked back at Emily.

"You followed her all the way to the Land of Oz? Oh, how sweet."

"You pulled me to the Land of Oz. You caused all of this, all the way back to Emily's disappearance and however far back this goes, it all goes back to you. You did this." D's passion increased with each syllable, and she approached Glinda, bent on getting her to answer for her crimes.

"And if you save your sister, do you think you can save them, as well, when they are so far gone?"

"You bitch," D yelled. "You bitch." She punched Glinda across the temple, then in the jaw. By now Glinda was crumpled before her. D grabbed her by the shoulders of her dress and shoved her against the wall. She just kept punching.

The Flying Monkeys, Cesar included, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin Man all gathered to watch the spectacle of Glinda the Good, once their hero and champion against the 'Wicked Witches' get the crap pummeled out of her by a farm girl from Kansas. D concluded her beating by shoving Glinda into the wall and then releasing her. Glinda, still barely conscious, waved a hand in an effort to send D flying and hopefully-to her mind-knock over and destroy the coffin containing her sister, thereby killing the girl within.

D summoned the remainder of her energy and focused on forcing away the witch's magic. Glinda gasped, and her head tilted sharply back. D backed away even further, trying to think of some way to get out of here, knowing they and the witch were now essentially trapped in the same room, in the same compromising position.

Glinda forced off the magic that entrapped her, and she advanced on D, ready to work something wicked. D recognized this at once and again tried to force Glinda back. She had, after all, succeeded once. The end result was a swirl of energy that eventually engulfed the entire room in something like a tornado. D held tight to the coffin in which her sister rested and magic worked its wicked way on her. The swirling continued into the tiling of the floor, warping everything it touched until it formed a near perfect vortex. Where D backed away from its edge as much as possible, and where all the spectators pressed their backs to the wall or flooded into the surrounding corridors, Glinda, now in a certifiable rage, lunged for D across the very center of the vortex and was sucked in.

The wind died down, and the vortex closed over. "What was that?" D gasped.

"That," Cesar replied, "was a one-way portal to the heart of the trod system. You just trapped a very, very wicked witch."

OUAT

"Glinda's a good witch. How's this possible?" Emma asked as she followed D, August, Peter, and Gerhardt deep into the forest. Snow and David were close behind her.

"Glinda's not a good witch," D replied, crutching over a young, fallen tree that lay in their path. "Glinda's the most manipulative woman alive. She can literally look at you and make you do anything she wants you to."

"You should know by now that the stories we know aren't always true," August added.

Gerhardt held up a hand to stop them, and then he eased forward. The others clustered together, but none of them dared to make a move to follow him. Gerhardt moved deftly over the twigs and underbrush and then ducked behind a tree. He peered around the truck into a clearing where the woman identified as Alice was standing. Her back was perfectly straight, and her hands were at her sides. Her shoulders were square; she reminded Gerhardt of a soldier at attention. He sensed at once what she was doing. She was channeling small parts of the energy around her into a greater cause, in the form of a vortex that started to form in the forest floor.

D, too, sensed the disturbance, which prompted her to make her way forward, albeit while hopping on one leg rather than using crutches, and brace herself against a tree opposite the path from Gerhardt. The wind started to pick up and swirl around the vortex, and by now everyone noticed. "What's going on?" Emma asked. D wanted to hold up a hand to silence her, but she knew already that it was too late. The door was open, and she knew with certainty what was about to happen next.

Out of the vortex stepped a blonde woman in a dress from a history textbook, though this time the dress was a much deeper shade of red, much like the color of blood. Alice kneeled at the woman's feet and said, "My queen." The woman waved a hand over Alice's head. D knew that Alice would be Glinda's forever.


	19. The Fight

The Fight

Bae's work had to be done in haste, or it wouldn't get done at all. He tore out syringes and tubes and everything connecting his unconscious father to something. His father's safety depended on how well he accomplished his mission.

"What are you doing?" the doctor asked, barging in at perhaps the most inopportune moment ever conceived. "He can't function on his own. He needs that equipment."

"My father's not safe here," Bae shot back. "Help me move him."

"What do you mean he's not safe here?"

"You don't feel it," he whispered. "You truly don't understand the changes taking place around you."

"Help me hook him back up."

"Only if you help me move him. Please, he's my father."

The doctor sighed. "Where do you want me to take him?"

"Underground. As far underground as we can possibly go."

"Come with me, and mind all those machines. I'll coach you as we go." And in precisely that manner, Bae and the doctor pushed Rumpelstiltskin's bed out of his room and down the hall to the emergency elevator.

OUAT

"Who is that?" Snow breathed. The woman looked at them over Alice's head, and it wasn't long before Alice herself turned and faced them.

"Welcome to our hell," D said, throwing her crutches aside and balancing on one leg in a fighting stance. "Now please leave before the devil can kill you."

"Oh, is that how you see me?" Glinda asked, approaching D with her usual saccharine smile. Her dress shimmered out of its deep red hue into the pink it was when D and Glinda had first met, and which she wore through most of their subsequent meetings. "That's a shame, but then, you never did take to my...methods. Alice?"

"Yes, my queen?" Alice asked.

"Kill them all."

Alice drew a gun and donned a wicked smile. "With pleasure, Your Grace."

"Alicia," Gerhardt said at once. "Alicia Marcet."

Alice blinked, and her hold on the weapon faltered. "Gerhardt...How?"

"Kill them," Glinda snapped.

"You two know each other?" D asked.

"What the hell is happening?" Emma nearly shrieked.

"Okay, you guys need to get to Storybrooke and tell the rest of the town to arm themselves, because this is going to be a disaster if we can't stop this."

"That we can do," August said, guiding Emma and her parents back to the road and their path to civilization. "Come on. She knows what she's doing. She's fought Glinda before, and even when she had no idea what she could do she won."

"Won isn't the word I'd use," Glinda said.

"Just go," D said, ignoring the witch's words but watching her every move. "Gerhardt, you know Alice," she whispered. "You can take her." Gerhardt nodded, and they switched places. D hopped over to Glinda.

"Neat trick, the one-way door."

"It's not enough. It never is. For you the end is death."

"And you think now, as a better-trained sensitive, you can kill me?"

"Yes."

"Then let's begin." Glinda held out her arms, and it swiftly became a war of calling on available magical resources and turning them on each other.

Gerhardt walked over to Alice and started to whisper in German, in a language they both knew, "Put the gun down. We can take you back into town where you can get treated, and we'll make sure everything works out alright. You don't have to be abandoned like you were by that rabbit in Wonderland. It doesn't have to be that way. Come with us and we'll help you. We'll save you. I'll save you."

"You lie," Alice suddenly yelled, leveling the gun again. "You're the rabbit. You did this to me." Then she started to fire.

OUAT

"Stop here," the doctor said, and Bae obeyed. "This is as far as we can go without getting into the tunnels, and we can't go down there without being disconnected from vital equipment that your father might need to survive."

"He'll be safe down here?" Bae asked.

"He'll be perfectly fine. I give you my word."

"Do you go back on your word?"

"I gave you my word that your father would be in good hands, and now I give that same word to you again. Your father is alive and will continue to live. I swear it."

"And if he's not?"

The doctor sighed and bowed his head, and then he looked at Bae again. "I'm sorry to admit this, but even the best doctors lose patients."

"What about your brother? You brought him back from the dead."

"I don't want to do that to your father. A man like Rumpelstiltskin...well, I'll say that if the resurrection did that to my brother, then it could do worse to your father, if that's how that works."

"And if it's not?"

"Either way, there's no way to tell."

"But you'll do your best to keep him safe?"

"Yes, I will. There's no questioning that fact. I will do everything in my power to maintain your father's life and surety." Bae nodded, and they shook on it.

"I could think of you as the doctor all the time, but surely you have a name, and I'm willing to bet that it's Victor, which means what I said about your brother is correct, which you just implied not too long ago."

"Yes," Victor said. "I am Victor Frankenstein. You know my dirty little secret, so what's yours? I can't just think of you as Random Little Boy all the time, now, can I?"

"Random Little Boy? I'm sixteen."

"Random Youth, then."

"I don't want to be Random Anything. My name's Baelfire." Rumpelstiltskin twitched, and both of his handlers looked at him. Then they locked eyes.


	20. Hollow Victory

Hollow Victory

D was distracted by the gunfire just long enough for Glinda to send her into a tree and tie her back with vines. Gerhardt was thereby distracted enough to allow one of Alice's bullets to hit him in the shoulder. He moved toward Glinda and tackled her, allowing D the window she needed to free herself and drop to the ground. "This isn't working," D whispered, locking eyes with Alice Mendell, who was now aiming directly at her. D pushed herself to her feet and held her hands up. "You've got the advantage," she said. "I'm crippled and unarmed. You have full use of everything and on top of that a gun at your disposal. You can end this right now."

"I'm going to," Alice replied, cocking the gun to fire another round. "Just as my queen bids me to."

"And if she decides she's done with you? When you've served your purpose, she'll turn you out or she'll kill you. The Flying Monkeys were lucky, and if you don't believe me, you can ask Cesar. He'll tell you all about the ways of wicked witches."

"She's not a wicked witch."

"She's a sugary pink sociopath. She's like the Gingerbread Man. Ever heard of the Gingerbread Man? He was said to lurk in the forests and devour whoever found his hiding place. When people went missing, they went missing. You should know that better than anyone else. Glinda's like that, even though you don't see it yet."

"She's my queen."

"She set it up that way so she can get rid of you, so she doesn't have any obligations toward you, not in her mind. That's not how she thinks these things work."

Alice's eyes teared over, but she shook her head in denial. "This is different."

"You know you don't believe that, right?"

"Shut up. Just shut up." She squeezed the trigger.

Gerhardt pushed himself off of the witch and lunged for Alice. D had ducked to avoid the bullet, and she slumped against the nearest tree. She stared in horror as Gerhardt tore Alice's head off and threw it away. Then he stood, turned to face her, and wiped the blood onto his pants and shirt. "Ignoring the complete gruesomeness of what just happened, thanks for saving my life," she finally said. He responded with a brief bow, and they turned to Glinda, who'd gotten to her feet and was advancing on them. "Do you know how to use your sensitivity?" D asked.

"Do you?" Gerhardt replied.

"Yes. Take my hand and follow my lead." Gerhardt slid his hand into D's, and D started to breathe deeply.

OUAT

"What do we do?" Bae asked. "What's happening."

Victor rested a hand on his shoulder. "Relax," he said. "Coma patients generally engage in reflex actions. It's perfectly normal."

"So this is a sheer coincidence?"

"I don't know anymore, but I need to think that because that's the only thing that makes sense to me." Bae nodded and helped Victor push his father's bed flush with the wall. "Watch him," he said. "Please."

"Where're you going?"

"I have other patients to attend to." Bae nodded and watched Victor leave, and then he looked back at his father.

"Yes, it's me," he whispered. "It's Baelfire." This time, Rumpelstiltskin was still.

OUAT

Victor called Red on his cell phone and asked, "Any news?"

"The Charmings are back," Red replied. "Snow says the witch is back and a fight broke out."

"So why are they still out there?"

"They must know what they're doing. At least, I hope they do. If this goes south..."

"It'll be alright," he said impulsively.

She sighed. "What if it's not?"

"It's going to be just fine." He swallowed. "It's going to be fine," he said again. "I'm right here."

"I know, but what if the Barrier breaks and we're all forced to go back to our respective worlds?"

"I...I don't know."

"I wanna come over. I wanna see you, and I wanna be there when it starts crashing down."

"Thank you. I'll see you soon."

"See you." Victor snapped his phone shut.

OUAT

Despite D's relaxed demeanor, she knew the pressure of the outcome as well as if it were a man she just woke up with. It rested in both her and Gerhardt's shoulders like the weight of the world, and she knew if this failed, they were all as good as dead, so she invested all her energy in making sure this went right. "You ready?" she asked Gerhardt.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Gerhardt replied.

"Go time. Follow my lead." Glinda was nearly on top of them by now, and D forced every last ounce of the witch's energy back inside her. After a moment, Gerhardt figured out what she was doing and tried to imitate it. Glinda recoiled, cried out, and stumbled backward, hands shooting to her temples. "Good job," D said. "Keep up the good work."

"She'll die."

"That's kind of the idea."

"You're sure?"

"Positive." Gerhardt swallowed and gripped D's hand, and she continued to destroy Glinda with her own energy.

The glamour around the dress disintegrated, revealing a solid black piece studded with pearls underneath. Glinda cried out one final time and, remarkably quickly, fell to the earth as a puddle of mush. D exhaled and panted, and Gerhardt supported her. He allowed her to wrap her arm around his shoulders and lean on him as they started to walk back to Storybrooke. "Glad that's over," she whispered. "Now we can worry about getting out of here."

"And how do we do that?"

"We figure out how to wake up Rumpelstiltskin."


	21. Hollow Victory part Two

Hollow Victory part Two

Red breezed into Victor's office and stopped. She hated finding it empty, especially at a time like this. She bit her lip and whirled around in a circle several times before stopping, facing the door. A moment later, Victor walked into the room. "There you are," she said, dropping her hands to her sides and letting her shoulders sag with relief.

"Where else would I be?" Victor asked.

"Sorry. I'm on edge."

"Don't worry. I fully understand."

"Everything okay?"

"We had to relocate Rumpelstiltskin, but other than that, there have been no other disturbances." She nodded. "Is there anything you'd like to discuss while we wait for the end of our world?"

Red shrugged. "I dunno, anything, really."

"Alright, let's talk."

OUAT

D turned to Emily's coffin and shoved the lid aside. You can do this, she told herself, her sense of urgency restored. She tried to calm her nerves again, and she took hold of Emily's shoulders. Her mind still active and her body still tingling with the sense of power she had when she tried to stop Glinda, and she exhaled slowly, forcing away the magic coating and changing Emily Gale.

Two minutes later, dizzy, D lay Emily back down and waited, waited for her light-headedness to pass, waited for Emily to breathe again, waited for something to happen, something beyond what was going on around her. Cesar approached her and reached for her shoulder. She shook him off, and he backed away. "Emily," she whispered, again reaching for her sister's shoulders. "Emily? Talk to me, Emily. Please." She pressed her fingers under Emily's nose and waited for several agonizing moments. In vain. She cried out and shoved the wall of the coffin away from her, and then she turned away and collapsed to the floor, where she gave herself over to weeping.

The Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Lion, Toto, and the Flying Monkeys all watched and waited, unsure of anything beyond the fact that the woman in the center coffin was well and truly dead, and that apparently devastated their beloved Dorothy-D, as she now liked to be called. Finally, the Tin Man approached her and gingerly extended a hand. He knelt beside her and touched her shoulder. He was soon followed by the Lion and the Scarecrow, and D recovered herself long enough to look up at them. "We have to go," she rasped. "She has a widower. We have to tell him."

"Do you think you're up to it?" the Tin Man asked.

"I have to be." He helped her to her feet. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

OUAT

Again with the help of the Wicked Witch, whom D's companions were becoming more and more convinced was a decent person, the four of them managed a voyage to the Enchanted Forest, specifically a village where a man named Jefferson was known to be establishing himself as a mushroom salesman. She gestured for the three Ozians to stay back while she approached what she was sure was his door, and she knocked. "Yes?" Jefferson asked when he opened the door, and then he took in D's disheveled appearance. "Dorothy...what happened?"

"Emily's dead," D replied. It was the only thing she knew how to say.

Jefferson gasped and pressed a fist to his lips for a moment, his eyes squeezed shut. Then he took a deep breath and said, "Come in. I have tea."

"Thanks, but these people I came with and I...we really should be getting back home. Emily's in Oz, in Glinda's castle, in the middle of the second rotunda. It's in that city in the north no one ever goes to. She's there, if you wanna find her and bury her properly."

"Thanks." He took another moment. "Come in anyway, and your friends, too." D nodded, and she, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion followed Jefferson into the hut. A crib caught D's attention, and she walked over to it and stared inside at the sleeping one-year-old girl. "Her name's Grace," Jefferson said softly.

"Nice to meet you," D whispered. "I'm your aunt Dorothy, but I want everyone to call me D now. People change as they grow up, and I just grew up a lot. But you, I want you to take your time. I want you to enjoy being a little girl for as long as you can, okay? You take all the time in the world."

"I'll tell her that every night."

"Okay. You take care of her, alright? You make sure she's okay."

"I will."


End file.
